The Bill is axed (but thanks for making us famous first)

So
The Bill is vanishing from our TV screens after 27 glorious years in the Sun (Hill). Hollywood heavyweights Keira Knightley and James McAvoy are among the telly classic’s roll call of pre-fame celebs – and there was also that 1994 appearance by a certain pre-Manuelgate “teen tearaway”â¦

Keira Knightley: Perfecting that pout already

Oscar-nominated dahling leaves Sun Hill in the dust

Keira Knightley Our Keira was a mere ten years old when she had her big Bill break in 1995. She played a girl found by police with a collection of old coins in her rucksack in a gripping robbery storyline.

James McAvoy

Keira’s Atonement co-star hit the streets of Sun Hill aged 18 in 1997. His pre-Shameless role was that of 15-year-old Scottish runaway Gavin Young, investigated by police over a busker deliberately hit by a car.

Angelina Jolie went on to co-star with this young runaway in Wanted (2007)

James McAvoy: From Sun Hill to stardom, via Shameless

Denise Van Outen

That 1999 Rear Of The Year award was a mere glint in this mum-to-be’s eye when she played a gangster’s moll in The Bill in 1998. Aged 25 at the time, her character was involved with three villains, one of whom ended up with his face smashed into a table, the second threatened with broken glass and the third beaten up with a baseball bat. Lee Mead is a lucky manâ¦

Denise Van Outen: Any (acting) Dream Will Do

Denise Van Outen in 2010: Bearing the baby of her very own Joseph

David Walliams Before he found his Little Britain calling as a lay-dee, Walliams appeared in a 2002 episode of The Bill as an animal rights activist called who took part in an anti-vivisection march.

Then known as Paul Savage, the latter-day chat-show king made his TV debut playing a transvestite called Roxanne in three installments of The Bill in 1988. He has since admitted he considered himself “the new Garbo” when he was offered the role.

Paul O’Grady: Sun Hill’s own Garbo

Paul O’Grady, British day-time TV darling

And some bit-part Bill actors we prefer to forget, thanks:Les Dennisas a man suspected of murdering his father (though credit must go to his self-created line “Dad’s gone to Iceland”, in response to police questions about his pop’s whereaboutsâ¦ the dead dad was eventually found in the freezer).Spice Girl Emma Buntonas a girl in a youth club. So rocked was the acting world by her 1993 performance, most of her shots ended up on the cutting-room floor and her appearance was reduced to a non-speaking shot of her leaning against a police-station wall.Ex-EastEnder Todd Cartyas a bent copper, a role the Albert Square staple declared “took my career in a completely different direction”. Er, you mean the Dancing on Ice direction, Todd?

But over to you, Mr Katy Perry , for an appearance we’ll remember forever: